Gopher Tortoise

Photo by: Craig ONeal

The Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is listed on the Florida “endanger species” list and categorized as a “threatened species” and I was lucky to find this guy grazing on broadleaf grass in the northern flatwood section of the Guana Reserve over the weekend. 

I was careful in my approach since it’s unlawful to harass endangered or threatened species, so I captured an “eye level” photo stream from about 30ft using my long lens set at 400mm. He obviously has had little or no human contact before, showing no concern over my presents. 

Gopher Tortoises play a very important roll in our ecosystem making large deep (average depth 30ft) borrows that provide homes for some 360 species of animals and invertebrates according to a University of Florida study.  

These 60 million year old land tortoises are an important link in the environment chain as John Muir so eloquently said, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world”.